Sleepy Eye Post 7 winless in Upper Midwest Tournament

The Sleepy Eye Post 7 Legion played host to the Upper Midwest Tournament on July 5-7 and went 0-for-4 on the weekend.

Chris Flores/Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch

The Sleepy Eye Post 7 Legion played host to the Upper Midwest Tournament on July 5-7 and went 0-for-4 on the weekend.

The first game was on July 5 against Post 307 Renner, S.D., where Sleepy Eye lost 2-12 in a quick five innings. Sleepy Eye struggled on the field, as the team committed five errors which hurt it from the start. Mike Zinniel pitched four innings and threw one strike but allowed seven hits and nine runs.

David Surprenant led Sleepy Eye at bat, going 1-for-2 with two RBI, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to the power house hitting team of Post 307.

Another grim scenario played out for Sleepy Eye a few hours later, when the team took on Wayzata. The only recorded hit for Sleepy Eye was from John Mangen, and four errors were made on the field which Wayzata took advantage of.

Sean Mathiowetz threw six strikeouts over six innings to lead Sleepy Eye on the mound, but also allowed seven hits and six runs. Wayzata won 6-0 after seven innings.

Sleepy Eye woke up at bat for game three on July 6 when they faced Pierre, S.D. Brandon Helget and Matt Schroepfer had two RBI apiece to lead Sleepy Eye.

It was a hard fought battle on both sides as each team showed great determination to win. So much in fact, the game went into 11 innings. Sleepy Eye tied the game in the seventh inning but couldn’t manage to get the key hits in order to win. Sleepy Eye lost 5-7 in their closest game of the tourney. Mike Hirsch threw two strikeouts, three walks, six hits, and three runs over eight innings in the game.

Finally, Sleepy Eye lost 0-3 against Eastview for the team’s fourth and final game of the weekend. All three runs for Eastview didn’t come until the sixth inning after Sleepy Eye made two errors which allowed Eastview to get the 3-0 lead. Mitch Neid threw an excellent game, only allowing three walks, one hit, three runs, and no earned runs. Meanwhile, Mangen went 2-for-3 at bat with one double.

Although Sleepy Eye lost four games in a row, the team redeemed itself on July 8 when it defeated New Ulm Gold 7-3 on the road.

Sleepy Eye scored a run in the first inning to start the game, but a two-RBI hit in the bottom of the second gave New Ulm a 2-1 lead. Meanwhile, Sleepy Eye’s Jordan Anderson struggled on the mound and gave New Ulm another run after hitting a player and walking another.

But Anderson eventually controlled his pitching and the rest of his team controlled the offense. Sleepy Eye scored multiple runs in the fifth inning and didn’t stop there. The team scored even more later in the game after a two-RBI double by Brandon Helget and a hit by Neid. Sleepy Eye moves its record to 6-4 overall.